KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday directed the provincial authorities to pay the arrears of the allowances to the members of the provincial assembly in three instalments after they contended that the Sindh government was facing financial constraints.

Disposing of a set of petitions moved by lawmakers belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, the two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Ali Mazhar directed the finance secretary, secretary for the Sindh Assembly and the chief secretary to ensure the payment of arrears.

The court said that 50 per cent arrears of the petitioners must be paid on Oct 15, 25pc on Nov 10 and the remaining 25pc on Dec 10 without any excuse.

Around a dozen MPAs had moved the court seeking payment of basic pay and allowances on account of amendment made in the Sindh Assembly Members (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974 vide the Sindh Laws (Amendment) Act, 2017.

MPAs’ allowances were increased from Rs72,000 to Rs145,000 per month; salaries of the CM, speaker and ministers were doubled

The court observed that earlier directives were issued to the provincial authorities twice to pay the arrears, but on Wednesday the deputy secretary for the finance department yet again came up with a plea that due to financial constraints this amount could not be paid.

The bench further said that the law was made effective from July 1, 2016 though it was notified on July 4, 2019, and arrears had not been paid nor amendment made in the parent act has been implemented, adding that once a law was promulgated, it was the responsibility of the government to implement its own laws.

“It is also noteworthy to mention that this liability has not been denied, but the matter has dragged on the plea of financial constraints,” the court order said.

The deputy secretary also made a request again that some more time be granted for making payment in three to four installments.

Khurram Sher Zaman, Dr Seema Zia, Syed Sardar Ahmed, Nusrat Saher Abbasi and others through their counsel, Aslam Bhutta, submitted that the Sindh Laws (Amendment) Act was passed in 2017 and the provincial assembly secretary submitted a summary to the chief minister on Sept 7, 2017, seeking additional funds amounting to Rs666.22 million for meeting the shortfall in funds for MPAs’ salaries during the financial year 2017-18.

However, the MPAs contended that the finance secretary had submitted a note to the CM on Oct 6, 2017 to seek Rs664.48m instead of Rs664.22m to meet the shortfall in funds for the salaries of the lawmakers but the relevant provision of the law had not been implemented.

Impleading the chief minister, chief secretary, finance and law secretaries and others as respondents, they submitted that the basic pay and allowances of the MPAs had been increased under the act from Rs72,000 per month to Rs145,000 while the salaries of the CM, the speaker and the ministers had also been doubled, but they had not received arrears yet.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019